 |
| Meeting in Madrid to discuss Citizens' Right (Nigel Aston on the right) |
Liberal Democratic Party leader Sir Vince Cable was in Madrid 8-10
November for the annual congress of European Liberal parties (ALDE).
EuroCitizens' secretary Nigel Aston was able to meet Sir Vince, who was
accompanied by LibDem President Sal Brinton and MEP Catherine Bearder
(South East England), and put across our concerns both with respect to
the current draft Withdrawal Agreement (WA) and our position in the case
of a No Deal Brexit. Representatives of Remain in Spain also attended
this informal meeting.
Nigel particularly
highlighted the absence of Freedom of Movement and related themes from
the WA, along with ongoing issues of treatment of spouses and partners
post Brexit (a particular concern also of the Bremain in Spain
representatives). Sir Vince and his colleagues appeared to understand
our concerns in full and we were met with a completely sympathetic
hearing. Interestingly Sir Vince felt that the risk of a "No Deal" is
relatively low, a view expressed also by Sir Keir Starmer, Labour
spokesperson on Europe, in an interview with "The Sunday Times" on 11
November.
In the light of recent attacks on EU
nationals (including Spaniards) in the UK, we were asked about
victimisation of UK nationals in Spain. We were glad to say that, at
least for now, these are a rarity.
The Liberal
Democrat party, of course, is a proponent of the Peoples´ Vote on the
terms the UK Government achieves in the current negotiations with the
EU. It is vitally important that those of us eligible to vote in the UK
(less than 15 years away from the UK) ensure NOW that we are on the
relevant electoral roll and in a position to receive a postal vote.
